


We'll figure something out

by Anarik



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Scott, Alternate Dimension, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Lydia Martin, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, Derek Uses His Words, Derek is trying, Future Fic, Hurt Derek, Lydia Martin & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Lydia saves the day, M/M, Minor Lydia Martin/Malia Tate, Pack Family, Panic Attacks, Past Braeden/Derek Hale, Past Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Past Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, Past Relationship(s), Past Stiles Stilinski/Malia Tate, Scott is a Good Friend, Stiles Understands Derek, The pack is lost without Stiles, just implied, stiles is pack mom, there is no smut here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 17:29:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10791315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anarik/pseuds/Anarik
Summary: After a witch attack, Stiles and Derek are cursed and have to live in an alternate dimension while watching the others figure out how to bring them back.





	We'll figure something out

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language, I'm sorry if there's any mistake, if you could point that out for me, I'll edit the chapter. Thank you!
> 
> Also Teen Wolf is not mine, I can only wish.

 

**_December 27, 2016. 5:48 pm_ **

They are in the preserve fighting a Witch. A Witch who came out of nowhere and is throwing curses just because she can. She’s laughing like a maniac and using her powers for no greater good and it’s pissing everyone off because they can’t decide _what to do with her_.

“We can’t just kill her, Derek!” Stiles yells while trying to evade one of the curses. “We promised no more deaths!”

“Then tell me how the hell do we stop her!” Derek yells back while he’s running.

They haven’t been able to make a clear attack to her. Isaac and Liam are hiding behind a tree while Malia, Derek and Scott are trying to get close enough to her to make an attack; and Stiles and Lydia are trying to figure out a pattern on her attacks so they can find a way to get rid of the (not so Glinda the Good) Witch.

“God, why are you doing this!?” Scott yells. “We didn’t do anything to piss you off!”

Stiles can see Scott’s tired. Not only of this fight, but tired of everything that happens in Beacon Hills, pretty much because he has to deal with it all the time, while Stiles goes off and studies in a place where such things don’t happen. He feels bad for his best friend because he doesn’t deserve to deal with all of this, even though he has Derek and Isaac, and Liam and Malia to deal with it with him. He still doesn’t deserve it.

When Stiles catches the Witch doing some silent thing and her hands creates some energy weird thing, he decides he’s not going to let that thing strike into any of his friends. Derek, Isaac, Malia and Scott are running, heading to the Witch with determination, like they cannot see the energy on her hands, and Stiles runs after them because he can’t see them getting hurt again, so when she shoots with just a glimpse to her aim, Stiles can only try and put his body before the other one.

“Derek, watch out!”

And then the only thing he hears is both their names being screamed.

*******

**_December 28, 2016. 12:34 am_ **

Derek wakes up first. It’s dark and he’s on the ground, in the forest. He’s disorientated, and after he sits down he sees someone else lying beside him.

“Stiles.” He tries calling him almost in a whisper. “Stiles.” Tries again.

The Stilinski boy doesn’t wake up, though; he’s just there, lying with his eyes closed, and if Derek couldn’t see his chest rise and fall, he would say the guy is dead.

“Stiles!” he tries harder, at this he gets a reaction.

“What? Who’s dead?” he asks after sitting with a quick move. “Where are we?”

“Preserve. I’m not sure what time is it…” Derek looks at his watch and frowns.

“What, what is it? What time is it?”

“I don’t know. My watch’s broke. It says 5:57 pm.”

“What? Let me see if my phone didn’t die” Stiles starts looking in the pockets of his pants until he finds his phone. “That’s weird. My phone says exactly the same…”

They stay silent for a minute or two and Stiles starts freaking out.

“Dude, something’s wrong.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

“I’m going to pass that reference just this time because this is important but I’m bringing it back sometime. I’m serious though, something’s wrong.” He takes a deep breath before continuing. “You know as much as I do that neither Scott or Isaac would have let us here in the preserve alone, not after the Witch attack.”

“Perhaps not you.” Derek says with a huff.

“No, man, Isaac would have taken your sorry werewolf ass and Scott would have taken my sorry human ass, and you know it. They wouldn’t have let us here. Something’s wrong.”

Derek seems to think about it for a second and then stands up. “Come on, let’s see if we can get out of this place and find out why we’re still here.”

*******

**_December 28, 2016. 1:10 am_ **

“Where’s my Jeep?” Stiles asks when they reach the road.

“My Camaro isn’t here either.”

They both look at each other and start looking in their pants if the keys are there.

“Man, I gave Scott my keys because I was trying to help Lydia with the laptop and avoiding the curses. Damn it.”

“I let Isaac drive.”

“You what?” Stiles asks surprised.

“I… taught him how to drive.” Derek says defensively.

“In your precious Camaro!? Dude, that’s huge!”

“He’s a good driver.” Derek states as if there’s nothing to discuss, and Stiles doesn’t say anything because the really knows how much Derek loves his car. “Let’s go, I’m taking you home.”

“Dude, I’m nearly twenty-two, you don’t need to take me home.” Stiles protests.

“Don’t care. Walk.”

They walk in a comfortable silence, only breaking it just to make the other notice one or two odd things. Like the breeze, and they don’t feeling it; or cars don’t stopping to help them; or they don’t feeling tired at all because of the walking from the preserve to Stiles’ house. Stiles notices the fact that they don’t have a shadow, but he doesn’t comment on it because he really doesn’t want to think about it.

While they’re walking, Derek decides to look up to the sky and stops for a moment.

“What is it?” Stiles asks turning around, and then looking up to the sky too.

“It’s 1 am… Or like, 1:30, I’m not sure.”

“How do you know?” Stiles looks at him surprised.

“The moon.”

“You can read the moon!?” Stiles goes jogging a little bit and enters too much in Derek’s personal space, the Beta takes a step back.

“Werewolf.” He answers.

“ _Of course,_ that’s your answer for everything. Neither Scott or Isaac know how to read the moon, you know?” Stiles starts to walk again.

“I’ve been a werewolf longer than them.”

Stiles huffs and waves his hand like he’s dismissing Derek’s statement.

*******

**_December 28, 2016. 1:58 am_ **

The Stilinski house has the living room lights on. Derek and Stiles stop by the door and they can hear loud voices inside. For a moment, Stiles panics because his dad is probably going to be really mad at him, if Derek’s moon-reads can be trusted. Derek turns around, like just dropping Stiles at the door is ok and now he can go rest, even if he really doesn’t feel tired. Stiles tries to pick the doorknob but his hand passes through it.

“Um. Derek?” Stiles says his name in a high pitch. “I think we’re dead.”

“What?” Derek stops in his tracks and looks at Stiles like he’s crazy.

“I think we’re ghosts.” He says again raising his tone a little more.

“Why the hell do you think that?” Derek starts walking again, but this time he goes to Stiles’ direction.

“Well, firstly, we woke up in the middle of the preserve after we got attacked with that curse. Secondly, the fact that we’re not tired, even after walking all the way from there to here, and that we’re not hungry. Thirdly, we don’t have shadows!” Stiles points at the ground and Derek realizes that the young man is right, they _don’t_ have shadows. “And last, but not least: my hand just _passed through_ the doorknob!”

“Your hand… what?” Derek tries to touch the doorknob and his hand passes through it as well.

“We’re dead. Oh, my god, Derek, we died. What are we going to do? I mean, not _do_ because we’re dead and we shouldn’t be doing _anything_. But why are we here!? I mean, why didn’t we pass to the other side? Do you have an unfinished business? I don’t know if I have an unfinished business! God, what now?”

“Stiles. Calm the hell down.” Derek puts his hands on Stiles shoulders and looks at him in the eyes. “We’re not dead. Now, breath with me. In and out, Stiles, in and out.” Stiles focuses his sight on Derek’s eyes and tries to imitate his way of breathing. “There you go” Derek says after Stiles has calmed down.

“How do you know we’re not dead?”

“Because you just had a panic attack and you need functioning lungs and a beating heart to have that.”

“Fair point.” Stiles stares openly at the door. “So, what? We try to go through the door?”

“We?” Derek asks with an eyebrow raised.

“Yes, we. You really don’t wanna know what happened to us? From what I heard, my dad was having a discussion with Scott. Come on.” Stiles takes Derek’s right wrist in his hands and drags him through the door. “Man, I feel like in the Platform 9 ¾.”

They walk into the living room and Scott and Lydia are sitting on the couch, looking at the floor, the Sheriff is looking at them with a blank expression, still wearing his uniform, Stiles thinks maybe his dad just got home from work.

“Explain it to me again.” John says.

“We were fighting against a Witch.” Scott starts.

“Stiles was with me, helping me figure a pattern because we couldn’t get close to her” Lydia continues.

“He saw one of the attacks and went to protect Derek and the curse hit them both” Scott looks uncomfortable.

“There was a blinding light and when we were able to see again, neither Stiles or Derek were there.”

Stiles and Derek look at each other and Stiles helplessly says: “But we were there!” Derek puts his hand on Stiles’ shoulder, trying to comfort him.

“What happened to the Witch?” the Sheriff says.

“She was lying there, burning. I think it was her last trail of magic.” Lydia answers first.

“Don’t they have like, books where they have their spells?”

“Yeah, Grimoires.” Lydia and Stiles say at the same time.

“And? What happened to it?” John looks exasperated with each response.

“It burned too” Scott answers with half a shrug.

“And you couldn’t take it?” John and Stiles ask.

“It was half burn!” Scott says with wide eyes. “And Isaac tried. He, um… he was really mad about of it.”

“So, you don’t know where my son is.”

While Stiles shouts “We’re here!”, Scott and Lydia say “No.”

John Stilinski sighs, passes a hand through his hair and then look at both persons sitting on his couch.

“I’m going to figure out what kind of spell she used and we’re going to bring them back, Sheriff.” Lydia says with confidence.

“But you don’t know when.”

“But we don’t know when.” Scott says with a disappointed look on his eyes.

“Stiles is supposed to be back to school in four weeks and a half. Do you think you can bring him back before that time?” John looks at them hopefully.

“I don’t really think so… I think you should call to Berkeley and let them know he won’t be back until further notice.” Lydia answers. She has a carefully blank expression, but her eyes are sad.

“I’ll do that tomorrow.”

**_December 28, 2016. 2:45 am_ **

Derek guides Stiles to his room. He’s still in shock when they cross the door and just lets his eyes wonder around when he’s sitting on his bed.

“How can I be sitting on my bed but I can’t touch a fucking doorknob?” he asks knowing Derek can’t answer that either.

“Are you alright?” the Beta asks instead.

“Yeah. Nothing like realizing you’re going to be stuck in some alternate dimension for god knows how long, and you can’t go back to get your fucking degree.”

“What did you just say?” Derek ask with a frown, mouth partially open.

“That I can’t have my degree! Derek, I was supposed to graduate this semester!”

“No, before that!”

“That we’re stuck in some kind of alternate dimension?” he answers with a question and then realization goes through his eyes. “Oh, _my god_. We _are_ in an alternate dimension! That’s what the spell was about!” Stiles says with a smile.

“That’s why we can’t touch anything.” Derek provides.

“Because those things can move! We’re like stuck in time!” Stiles takes his phone out of his pocket and shows it to Derek. “That’s why it still says the time we got hit with the spell!”

They stay silent for a moment, looking at each other in the eyes. Stiles has a bright smile and Derek has a deep frown but he’s smiling a little bit.

“It’s easy! Lydia will figure it out quickly enough and we’ll be back to our lives and I can get my degree this semester!” he says with a laugh.

“I wouldn’t give them too much credit.” Derek says shooting his eyebrows up.

“Why not?”

Derek looks at him with boring eyes but his eyebrows express how surprised he is about the entire conversation.

“They’ll go crazy without you. After the big shock of you not being there, it’ll pass, at least, two more weeks until they start doing their research.”

Stiles gasps like he’s not entirely sure he heard Derek right, and then he looks at him with a frown and wide eyes. He opens his mouth and closes it a couple of times, and then he finally settles with a pout.

“You really don’t realize how important you are for the pack, do you?” Derek asks quietly.

Stiles knows that _that_ is a rhetorical question but he can’t help himself, so he says: “Yeah, yeah, I’m Scott’s best friend and I save your asses constantly. I know that, Derek.”

“No, you really don’t. Look, if it were someone else stuck with me but you…”

“Why? Because I annoy you, is that it?” he seems upset saying that, like he really believes it.

Derek sighs frustrated. “No. Let me finish. If it were someone else stuck with me but you, we would be here, at most, for two days. Because you, literally, would not sleep until we get back. Because you know where to look, see patterns. They? They’re lost without you.”

“Ok, so I’m good at researching, that doesn’t make me important. Lydia is good as well, she’ll find a way with her Banshee powers.”

“I’m not doubting it. But it’ll take them weeks, months. And no, I’m not just talking about your research skills. I’m talking about how you care for everyone…”

“All of us care for each other, Derek, that doesn’t make _me_ special.” Stiles interrupts again and Derek gives him a pointed look.

“You could say that. But it’s something else entirely. They know that, with you? It’s something genuine, there’s not just because it’s obligated.”

“How can ‘care’ be obligated?”

“It’s something Jackson brought up once. He thinks family is obligated to love and care for its members. So, his parents are obligated to love him, same with Scott and his mom, Lydia and her mom, you and your dad. For some reason, he applies that theory to girlfriends and boyfriends too. It all ends up with _you_ caring for someone and doing everything you can to protect them.”

“Jackson is weird.”

“And Lydia, and Scott, and Isaac, and Liam, and probably Malia too.”

“Do _you_ think so?” Stiles asks after a moment of silence.

“Sometimes. Even when you’re pestering about saving my life, I know you care. You wouldn’t do it if you didn’t.”

Stiles stays quiet for a while and then he looks at Derek in the eyes.

“I do care about you.”

“I know. I care about you too.”

*******

**_January 1, 2017. 12:01 am_ **

As much as Stiles doesn’t want to admit, Derek is right. The whole pack freaks out when they find out neither Stiles nor Derek are somewhere to be found. There are tears, screams, hugs and things breaking.

While Stiles decides to stay in his house because he wants to keep an eye on his father, Derek heads to the loft only to find out that Isaac is staying with Scott until they bring them back. Derek suspects Isaac is only doing that because he knows pushing Scott’s buttons will get them somewhere.

“Happy new year.” Stiles says watching the fireworks.

“Happy new year.” Derek answers without looking at him, instead he’s watching the pack give hugs and kisses to their significant others.

Stiles is beside the window, with his back to the crowd of people that is his pack while Derek is at his other side, looking at them fondly.

 _They’ll figure it out, Stiles. Just let them have this moment._ He thinks and looks at the sky once more.

“It’s gonna be ok.” Derek says to him and then he walks away to see where the hell is Peter taking Malia.

*******

**_January 16, 2017. 9:37 am_ **

Stiles doesn’t know how to feel when he goes downstairs and he hears his father talking with someone through the phone. That someone being the Administration people from Berkeley. He has the same preoccupied face he had when his mom was at the hospital and the doctors called him to tell him some news about her condition. Stiles feels awful and he just wants to hug that face away. _I’m fine, dad. I’m ok_ , he wants to say, but he knows the Sheriff ’s not able to hear him.

“Yeah. No, he’s still missing.” His dad say. He stays silent for a moment and then he wipes a tear from one of his eyes. “Yes. I would like to freeze this semester, at least until when he comes back. Yes. Thank you.” He starts giving his personal information and answering questions about him and his major, among other questions about motive of retirement and things like that.

When the call ends, his father looks defeated and Stiles can’t stand that look, it passes through him. He decides to go to see Derek.

*******

**_January 20, 2017. 3:10 pm_ **

Stiles is in Lydia’s room. She somehow has managed to make an evidence board like the one Stiles had when they were in high school. Except that, instead of being a board, Lydia’s is more like a whole wall. She has a lot of pictures, information, could-be spells and strings with no end. In the center of the whole wall is a “WHERE ARE THEY!?” sign, circled in red. Stiles reads all the information she has gathered but none of it says ‘alternate dimension’ and he wants to hit his head against the other wall, repeatedly.

“Come on, Lyds! Werewolves exist! You’re a Banshee yourself! How can you not think about alternate dimensions!?” he yells frustrated knowing she can’t hear him. Why is it so hard for them to figure it out? He thought of it in less than two hours after waking up! “Well, at least is not like with the Ghost Riders. She’s fully conscious about my existence.”

He continues staring at the wall Lydia made and thinks about having boxed and classified everything she has looked up because it could be helpful in some way for the next crisis they’re certainly going to have.

*******

**_January 22, 2017. 6:30 am_ **

“Hey, sorry for crashing here.” Stiles says looking tired, even though he slept all night.

“It’s ok.” Derek responds. “Your father had a night shift yesterday?”

“He’s having a lot of those lately. And double shifts. He doesn’t want to be home.” Stiles sits up on the couch.

“Stiles…”

“He goes to my room a lot too, when he’s home. Like he expects me to be there. And I am, Derek! I _am_ there and he can’t see me or feel when I hug him! And he just looks so… so defeated!” Stiles feels his eyes fill with tears and he does everything he can to wipe them away.

Derek hugs him, and it’s such an uncommon thing coming from him that Stiles gasps in surprise and feels uncomfortable, but he tries to hug him back because he didn’t know he missed hugs that much until Derek has him all wrapped in his big arms, with a lot more force than the necessary.

And he cries.

And he soaks wet his shirt.

But Derek doesn’t really care.

*******

**_January 25, 2017. 4:25 pm_ **

“I don’t know what I’m doing, Scott!”

“Lydia, I know it’s hard but…”

“Hard!? What do you know about hard!?” she yells at him. “This stupid ‘superpowers’ aren’t helping at all! It’s been a month and I don’t even know what the hell happened to them! Why the hell do I need this voices for if they _cannot_ tell me what I want to know!?”

Stiles gasps in surprise. He’s read a lot of things about Banshees, trying to figure out what his friend was and how he could help her. But Lydia never actually talks about the voices of the other Banshees in her head, or the fact that she’s the one with the power of sensing and finding a dead body. Or the screaming part, though that was cool.

Scott looks taken aback. Instead of responding he hugs Lydia tight and she allows herself to cry. Scott makes a face, like he’s sniffing something and Stiles can only imagine how nice Lydia’s hair must smell, realizing that, the fact of seeing his best friend doing that with the girl he was supposedly in love with, didn’t make him feel nothing resembling to jealousy or anger. Instead, he feels warm because at least Lydia and Scott have each other’s backs while he’s not physically there.

The sudden realization makes his chest hurt and he feels breathless. Since when he’s not in love with Lydia? Sure, they dated a few years ago and then decided they were better as friends, but he promised himself that Lydia Martin was the one and only girl in his life, and that he would forever love her. _Where are these platonic/sibling-ish feelings coming from?_ He thinks scared.

“I need to get out of here.” He says to himself and heads for the door.

He doesn’t want to think about love. He really doesn’t want to but he knows that when an idea starts running around in his brain, there’s nothing he can do to let it go until he’s at the bottom of it. And then, just when he’s about to go through the open door, it comes to him.

Of course he’s not in love with Lydia anymore. Sometimes he can pass a whole week without thinking about the strawberry-blond girl, he’s taking all the time he can get to figure Derek out because he’s been acting weird. And it hits him again. And he chokes with his own saliva, barely registering the conversation behind.

“You’re Lydia Martin” Scott says. “You can do freaking everything without getting ruined your nail-polish. You can do this.”

“You sound like Stiles.” Lydia says laughing, cheeks and eyes red from crying.

But Stiles can’t pay enough attention to them because he’s almost freaking out, holding his entire weight down on Lydia’s wall, almost sitting on the floor.

“Oh my god…” he whispers, and then doesn’t say anything because, if he says it, if he allows himself to admit it out loud, it just becomes too real. So he just thinks: _I’m in love with Derek Hale._

And he runs away from the room, like he can make the thought stay there, hoping it would never follow him to where his going.

*******

**_February 02, 2017. 7:45 pm_ **

It follows him where he’s going.

It always follows him where he’s going and he just can’t thank enough to all the deities he knows that Derek hasn’t commented on it.

Stiles doesn’t think is weird because Derek being shady, and creepy, and evasive is nothing new, though he really liked to think they had come to a friendship over the years. This whole situation just sent them all the way back to Stiles:17, Derek: 23, and trust issues all the way.

Stiles wants to talk to him but that just gets in the way of the ‘avoiding-Derek’ plan, so he just lets him be.

*******

**_February 4, 2017. 11:23 pm_ **

The plan doesn’t last too much.

*******

**_February 10, 2017. 6:17 pm_ **

“Kate call me that once.” Derek says quietly with an awkward movement.

It takes Stiles a moment to understand what he’s saying, so he just stares openly at him, like processing the words the Beta just said. Realization comes and passes through his eyes, and then determination and anger.

“I will never call you that again.”

Derek looks at him with surprised eyes. “Stiles it’s not…”

“I will _never_ call you that again.” Stiles interrupts, looking at him in the eyes. “And I will _never_ let the others call you that again.”

*******

**_February 20, 2017. 1:00 pm_ **

Scott, Lydia and Isaac have lunch together once a week, mostly because they want to keep each other updated with their research and, every time they see each other, they do the pros and cons of their founding’s. At the moment, neither of them have come up with the realization of the real issue here.

“This is so frustrating.” Isaac says, not for the first time.

Stiles started to go to their weekly meetings at the diner as soon as he heard they were having them. He listened very carefully each of one of their points, and even if they were good ones, neither of them were the right answer. And now they’re running out of ideas.

Today, Stiles is sitting next to Isaac, paying close attention to Scott because he’s doing the strange face again. Lydia is right next to him and she seems not to notice it, but a quick flick of her eyes to Scott’s direction tells him she had noticed it too.

“Why do you keep doing that?” she asks with a frown.

“It’s just that… it’s frustrating.” Scott answers.

“I just said that.” Isaac says, but he’s sniffing the air too.

“Now, you are doing it too. What are you guys smelling?” she looks at both, passing her eyes in front of what’s supposed to be an empty seat, but Stiles is sitting right there, looking with curious eyes.

“It’s just, Mom.” Isaac says with a frown. Stiles holds a breath, somewhere between the months of their disappearance, they had decided to start calling him ‘Mom’ because of the important role he has in the pack. He hates when Derek is right. “Stiles.”

“I know.” She says with an exasperated tone, mixed with obviousness. “We’re looking for him. And for Derek.”

“No, no. You don’t get it, Lydia. It’s like… like he’s here.” Scott says, looking everywhere, and letting out a frustrated sigh because he can’t seem to find what he’s looking for.

“What do you mean?” Lydia starts looking through all the papers she has on the table.

“Like, I can smell his scent sometimes. Like he’s with me, or in your room, or in his room…”

“His room has his scent, Scott.” Lydia interrupts, looking a little bit annoyed.

“Not the same way, Lyds. Like, yes, his things have his scent, but when he’s there, it smells strongly. It’s the same right now, even if he’s not here. And it’s not always. Sometimes is Derek’s scent, but his is a little bit off, and sometimes is the both of them.” Isaac continues for Scott.

“Exactly. Like, they’re together sometimes, or alone, somewhere where we cannot see them. But their scents are strong enough for us to smell.” Scott says looking at her, like if she thinks hardly, she’ll figure it out.

Stiles looks at Lydia too, and he can almost see the gears rolling inside her head.

“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner!?” she smacks him in the arm, and kicks Isaac down the table.

“Ow!” they both complain, even if it really didn’t hurt.

“They’re in an alternate dimension!” she says.

“YES!” Stiles says excited and almost screaming, raising up his arms.

“That exists?” Isaac asks, taken aback.

“Werewolves exist, Isaac?” Lydia and Stiles ask at the same time.

“Fair point.” He says. Isaac seems to think about something and then his head snaps in horror. “You mean Stiles has heard me calling him mom!?”

“… What?” Stiles looks at him with wide, open eyes, like he cannot understand what the other boy said.

“Isaac…” Scott says his name with a little smile and hooks his head.

“Let’s put together some information and let’s find that spell.” Lydia says happily, ignoring Isaac’s comment.

Stiles doesn’t wait another second and trespasses the wall that’s beside him.

***

**_February 20, 2017. 2:56 pm_ **

Stiles goes running as fast as he can to Derek’s loft, he knows the wolf would be there and there’s a big possibility he’s going to be waiting for him outside, he really needs to tell him the news. _Oh, this is great_ , Stiles thinks happily.

When he arrives, he’s surprised because Derek is not out there waiting for him. It’s weird, but it’s not like he hasn’t been inside his loft, so he goes upstairs and with a quick move he trespasses de front door.

“Derek!” he says happy and it shocks him when he sees Derek startles. _What the…?_ he thinks.

“Oh. Um. Hi, Stiles.” Derek tries to be nonchalant but Stiles can see past through him.

“You didn’t hear me? Or scent me?” Stiles asks and panic runs through Derek’s eyes and then his expression closes.

“I was distracted.”

“Distracted with what? It’s not like we can operate anything like a TV or a cellphone!”

“I was thinking about something.”

“Derek” Stiles says coming closer to him “, did you hear me or scent me?” He asks again.

“… No.”

“Can you smell my scent now?” Stiles asks carefully, sitting right at his side.

“I hate when you deduce this kind of things.”

“Answer the question, Derek.”

With a sigh, Derek says: “No.” And it clicks in his head what Isaac said not two hours ago.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Stiles says almost chocking. Derek doesn’t respond. “Were you embarrassed?” he tries, Derek doesn’t say anything but he shifts uncomfortably. “Derek, oh my god, the situation where we both are in is weird enough as it is, you don’t need to be embarrassed for something like this! Did you think I was going to mock you? Because I wouldn’t! This is too serious to have mocking!”

“I know you wouldn’t, I just… I needed to come to terms with it.”

“Dude, I don’t know how must this feel for you…”

“It’s ok.”

“No, it’s not! It would be ok if it was Scott or Isaac because they’re bitten! But _you_ are a _born wolf_! You don’t know how being human feels!”

“I do now.”

“Not for long. Lydia finally figured out the alternate dimension thing thanks to Scott, Isaac and their noses. So, we’ll be out of here in no time.”

“Stiles, don’t get your hopes all raised up. We’ve been here almost two months now, and it’s a miracle they’ve worked out where we are. It’ll take them a decade to get the correct spell and get us out of here.”

“But they will. Even if it takes them another decade, fifty years or more. They _will_ get us out of here and you’ll be a wolf again. It’ll happen.” Without thinking, Stiles puts his hand on top of Derek’s, but the former wolf doesn’t shift or makes a rough move. Instead he turns around his hand and laces his fingers with Stiles’.

“Yeah. It will happen.”

*******

**_February 22, 7:55 am_ **

“So, you’re telling me that Stiles and Derek are in an alternate dimension, together, and they can see and hear what we say and do, but they can’t manifest to us?” the Sheriff asks likes he can’t let himself be too surprised.

“Yes, sir.” Scott answers with a smile.

“You’re telling me that my son has been watching me eat burgers since he disappeared?” he asks again, closing his eyes.

“Yes, dad.” Stiles answers with a wide smile.

“I suppose so.” Lydia says with a smile. “Sheriff, we need to do more research on the topic because just a powerful witch can do the spell. Dr. Deaton is doing everything he can to find a witch who wants to help, but the Grimoire thing may take a while.”

“It’s ok. At least now we know they’re ok. Anything about Peter?” John asks.

“Radio silence. Malia tried to call him a few days ago, but he doesn’t answer his phone and she destroyed hers because of the frustration.” Lydia answers sighing.

Stiles knows Peter is up to something. He doesn’t just disappear without a motive, and if his history is anything to go by, nothing good comes with Peter disappearing for god knows how long.

“He’s in South America” Derek tells him. “He came by the loft a few weeks ago, and announced to the air that he was going to bring Cora back.”

“And why couldn’t he tell them that?” Stiles asks with a frustrated look.

“Why does Peter do things?” Derek asks him while running a hand through his hair as an exasperated movement.

“True.” Stiles sighs and looks at the people talking and making theories about the former big bad, crazy Alpha. “Peter creeps me out.” Stiles says eventually.

“Peter creeps everyone out. Even Malia.” Derek allows himself to sit in the kitchen counter, legs wide open. “Come here.” He says.

Stiles looks at him strangely but he goes anyway. He places himself, a little bit cautious, beside Derek’s legs, and he’s a little bit grateful because his companion can’t hear his heartbeat and how fast is beating.

“Look at that.” Derek says, “Look at how Scott is looking at the Sheriff.” Stiles frowns a little bit but he looks at Scott and then at his dad. “That’s the look of a leader. He’s so fully invested in the conversation that not even the burgers comment cracked him up to laugh.” Derek continues.

“That’s my best friend.” Stiles says proudly.

“I know.” Derek says while putting one of his arms to rest on Stiles shoulders.

*******

**_March 6, 2017. 11:55 pm_ **

“I’m in love with you.”

They hear those words out of Malia’s mouth and Lydia stops everything she’s doing to look at her fondly.

“We should go, Stiles.” Derek says taking his wrist and nagging him out of the room.

“Shhh! This is _good_!” Stiles stops him, a bright smile on his face, and Derek lets him go.

“You came, all the way here, to tell me that?” Lydia says with a little smile.

“Yes.” To other people’s eyes, it seems like Malia still doesn’t understand the concept of uncomfortable but, to Stiles, she’s just about to shift, run and never come back.

“Come here.” Lydia says, sitting on her bed and moving the papers she has on so Malia can sit beside her.

Malia walks with a careful, neutral expression and sits beside Lydia, not too close but not too far away, either. It looks like she’s preparing herself to be rejected. However, Lydia doesn’t take too much time and moves herself close to the other girl, taking her hand and lacing their fingers.

“Help me with this.” She says, and then gives Malia a few papers, never leaving her hand. Stiles can see the relaxing movement on Malia’s shoulders, and a little smile.

“I never thought I see the day of Lydia Martin being shy.” Stiles says with a smirk, Derek looks surprised.

“You don’t mind?”

“Nah, Lydia deserves to be happy, and I know Malia can handle all that.” Stiles answers with a soft smile. “Besides, I’m not in love with her anymore. I mean, I’ll always love her but now I think of her as one of my best friends.”

Derek doesn’t answer, and when Stiles looks behind him to see if Derek’s still there or if he left him, he has a closed, constipated expression and Stiles can’t place it in his ‘Derek’s expressions and grunts’ archive in his head.

“What is it?” he asks concerned.

“Nothing. Let’s go.” Derek turns around and starts walking.

“Weird.” Stiles says and then looks at Lydia and Malia, who are smiling to each other. “You better take care of each other.” He says and then walks away to follow Derek.

*******

**_March 17, 2017. 11:47 am_ **

They’re in Scott’s room this time. Isaac, Liam, Scott, Malia and Lydia are there, trying to tutor Liam with his SAT’s and Stiles feels hopeless and amused at the same time because, not even Lydia can explain to Liam what he needs to know in a way he understands. They decide to take a break because he looks scared and there is no way they’re going to get pass through his puppy-eyes expression. They put some music on YouTube while they use their time in a resourceful way: looking for ‘could-be’ spells.

“They’re here.” Malia comments.

“Yeah, I can’t place where but they’re in this room.” Scott says with a sheepish smile.

Stiles smiles to himself and looks at Derek with a hopeful expression. Derek looks fond of the young men and women there, he looks at them sweetly and Stiles can’t help but stare. He knows that, since the beginning, the only thing Derek wanted was everyone to be safe, even if his actions didn’t show his intentions. They have learned to trust each other and Stiles knows, that is what Derek values and treasures the most.

“Oh. My. God.” Liam says. “I _love_ this song!” and next thing they know, ‘Never gonna give you up’ is sounding through the speakers. “ _We’re no strangers to love, you know the rules and so do I_.” Liam starts singing and Stiles can only laugh at the expressions they’re all doing.

“I don’t know this song.” Malia says and Liam gasps dramatically, putting his hand in his chest.

“Listen to it!” he yells and drags Malia to the computer. “… _Any other guy. I just wanna tell you how I’m feeling, gotta make you understand._ ” He continues and looks at the rest of the pack hopefully and, really, what can all they do but sing?

“ _I’m never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down_ ” Scott sings.

“ _Never gonna run around and desert you_ ” Isaac continues with a smile.

“ _Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye. Never gonna tell a lie, and hurt you_ ” Liam finishes the chorus dancing along and dragging all of them to that, even Lydia.

Stiles laughs so hard, he feels his stomach hurting. He looks at Derek with an amused expression and he sees Derek is smiling and his eyebrows are doing an awkward movement, like he can’t understand how this is his life and how this is his pack, his family.

“ _We’ve known each other for so long_ ” Stiles sings loudly, making his voice sound on top of Lydia’s. “ _Your heart’s been aching but you’re too shy to say it_ ” he sings, looking at Derek in the eyes, smiling brightly.

“Shut up.” Derek says, but he’s smiling, and looking at him fondly.

“ _Inside we both know what’s been going on. We know the game and we’re gonna play it._ ” Stiles continues coming closer to Derek, dancing along, and then going back to his place. “ _And if you ask me how I’m feeling. Don’t tell me you’re too blind to see_ ”

“Stiles…” he gives him a pointed look and then smiles big. “ _I’m never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down._ ”

“ _Never gonna run around and desert you! Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye!_ ” Stiles shouts, smiling at him, pleased with himself because he could make Derek sing. “ _Never gonna tell a lie, and hurt…_ ” but he gets interrupted.

By Derek’s mouth.

On his.

 _Oh, if the pack could see us_ , Stiles thinks, and smiles into the kiss, making Derek smile as well.

“ _You._ ” Stiles says into Derek’s mouth.

They kiss for what’s left of the song.

*******

**_April 4, 2017. 8:56 am_ **

“Happy birthday.” Derek says when he sees Stiles walking down the stairs, wearing only his shirt and some boxers he probably found on the floor.

“Thanks.” A hint of a smile is there, but Derek feels the sudden need of making Stiles smile.

“We should go to your house today.” He says walking in his direction.

“I don’t know. I don’t think my dad is going to be ok with celebrating my birthday without me being there, I don’t want to see him sad.”

“Like you are right now?” Derek asks, sitting on the couch and dragging Stiles with him so he can sit on his lap.

“Yeah” Stiles mumbles while he comes closer and snuggles with him, resting his head on the curve of his neck.

“Then we go to Scott’s and we make sure he goes to your house.”

“How? It’s not like we can send him a message.” Stiles raises his head and looks at Derek’s eyes.

“We’ll figure something out.”

*******

**_April 4, 2017. 11:56 pm_ **

“In the end, we managed to make them come.” Stiles says looking at all his friends sitting in the living room of his house.

“Told you.” Derek says taking his hand.

“I hope we can come back soon. I want to hug my dad.”

“They’re close. The Witch said she’ll be coming when they find the spell.”

“I know, but they’re not looking in the right places. They’re just looking everywhere randomly. I mean, there has to be a reason why the Witch was so crazy she sent us here.”

“I think all of her curses where the same, but because none of them hit them…” Derek says looking at Stiles.

“Yeah! Like, I remember I saw this light coming from her hands, and you heard what they said. Her last trail of magic was used for burning her own body, so maybe that light was the last spell she used on herself.”

“But why? Why would she do that?” Derek asks frustrated. “It doesn’t make sense. Why would she want to send someone to another dimension? We didn’t do anything to make her want to attack us. She just did.”

“I know…” Stiles frowns a little bit and bite the nails of his free hand. “It’s almost like… Like she was just crazy. Like, can that happen to Witches as well? Humans and werewolves go crazy sometimes, and they end up in care-hospitals, like Peter, or in asylums.”

“Well, they can go crazy. All of us, really, if there’s just something strong enough to mess up with our heads.”

“Then that can be. They should look in the registers of missing persons, see if someone matches with the profile. Perhaps if they find where she came from, they can find someone who knows which spell she used.”

“Now, how do we tell them that?” Derek asks the million-dollar question.

*******

**_April 7, 2017. 10:09 am_ **

“Ugh, I really need to kiss you right now.”

“Focus on what you’re doing.” Lydia says rolling her eyes.

“Fine. But only if you kiss me.” Malia is looking at her with what Stiles would certainly call ‘Bedroom eyes’.

“No. You promise you’ll help me with this without distractions, Malia. I know what would happen if I kiss you.” Apparently, Lydia’s not having any of that. Stiles loves how focused she can be.

“Ugh, you know me too well.” Malia says and then she mutters a curse.

“I’ll make it worth your while, ok?” Lydia says smiling. “Now, read this out loud, please, I need to check the wall.”

***

**_April 15, 2017. 6:27 pm_ **

They’re lying on Derek’s bed. Stiles has his head on top of Derek’s chest and he’s listening to his steady heartbeat. Derek has one hand in the curve of Stiles back and the other behind his head. Stiles has his arm around Derek’s stomach and is currently feeling tickles in his skin just because of the contact.

“What are you thinking about?” Derek asks, breathing on his hair.

“In how awfully domestic we are” Stiles answers with a little smile, and moves his head so he can see Derek’s face.

Derek hums and says “Well, it’s not like we have anything else to do.”

“We could be doing sexy things.” Stiles answers as a reflex and then smiles suggestive.

“We just did that.” Derek answers smirking, and then he hugs him hard.

They stay quiet for a very long time, hugging each other like they’re never going to let go. Stiles is thinking about a lot of things. Like, how he never noticed his feelings for Derek, or the way it was so easy to be around him and having such a healthy relationship. He thought about Braeden. He thought about how good she was for Derek and how she slowly repaired his pieces, putting together a Derek that wasn’t so afraid of admitting how he felt, a Derek that wasn’t expecting so much that the other person was going betray him. In a way of speaking, a Derek that was prepared for the intensity of Stiles’ feelings.

He remembers the day Derek came home without her. Looking so exhausted and sad. But it was different, because he wanted to talk about it, because he went to Scott without even thinking it and just waited for advice. The Derek that came back to Beacon Hills was so different from the one that had left. He was more open about his feelings and Stiles was more than grateful to Braeden. They had broken up in a mutual statement. Derek wanting to come back to his home, and Braeden wanting to explore the world a little bit more. They still talk to each other, Stiles found out, but it was more in a ‘friendship’ way than a ‘wanting to come back together’ way. Much like his relationship with Lydia.

Stiles notices the change on Derek’s heartbeat and locks his eyes with his.

“What is it?”

“… The anniversary is coming up.” Derek answers with a hurt frown.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asks carefully. He knows Derek is still hurting because of that. He knows he cries when it’s someone’s birthday. He knows how much he misses them.

Derek stays quiet for a moment and then looks at Stiles with watery eyes, not letting himself cry. “I don’t know…”

Stiles looks at him with an understanding look and says: “When my mom was at the hospital, I would go to visit her every day after school. She was always waiting for me, and most of the time she knew who I was. She liked blowing raspberry kisses on my cheek while I told her how my day at school was, and she let me climb up her bed so we could cuddle a little bit until the doctors came and made me go back to my seat.” Stiles remembers those times where she thought he came to kill her, where she couldn’t stand the sight of him, but he doesn’t like to talk about that, not even with his father, because it wasn’t his mother’s fault. “Those are the times I like to remember about her. Or the ones we would bake cookies and we ate them before my dad came home; or the ones she would take me to the park to have a picnic and spy on dad doing his job because she knew how much I liked seeing him in uniform.” Stiles is crying at this point, he’s not going to even try and deny it. “She was happy. And she even said goodbye to me before her heart stopped beating. I couldn’t go to the hospital for more than three years. I couldn’t stand the sound of repeating beeps… It was all too painful.”

Derek looks at him with a fond look and then kisses him softly. He knows how Stiles feels about his mother’s death. He knows he blames himself because he was the last one who saw her alive. Derek understands all of it and he feels something untangle on his chest.

“The last full moon we spent all together as a family was full of fights.” Derek says, putting his chin on top of Stiles’ head. “My mom and Peter fought because all of us wanted to run through the woods but she wouldn’t let us because there were hunters in the city. She wanted us to stay home and play some board games while we ate. The only ones that agreed with her were my dad and Laura, so we sat forming a circle around the living room. Nobody talked for what it felt like hours but in the end, my mom put on the table the mooncakes she made for us and somehow that warmed the atmosphere. They were Peter’s favorites since he went to a Chinese place in the center… It doesn’t exist anymore. We ended up playing board games and laughing our asses off with mouths full of mooncakes… Sometimes it feels like even my happy memories about them burned with the fire.”

Stiles hums in understanding and hugs Derek close. Sometimes he just wants to put a blanket around him and make him eat chicken soup. He decides that he’s going to wait until they come back to do that. He’s going to continue what Braeden started, and if at some point they break up, the next person that comes better deserve the man Derek has become.

*******

**_April 26, 2017. 7:45 am_ **

“I found the right spell!” Lydia says.

“What? Are you sure, Lyds?” Scott answers with excitement.

“Of course I am, Scott. Call Deaton, tell him that the Witch should come now.”

*******

**_May 2, 2017. 11:45 pm_ **

They’re fighting. Nothing new, really, that’s how their relationship work. But it’s the first big fight since they started dating. Hell, it’s even the first fight they have since they got into this mess.

“Why are you being like this? God damn it, Derek. It’s not even my fault!” Stiles yells, standing very near to the door.

“Why the hell did you put yourself in front of me, anyway!?” Derek yells back.

“Why? Are you asking me _why_!?” Stiles sounds exasperated. “Because I wanted to! Because I didn’t want to see you hurt! Is that so hard to believe!?” Stiles thought Derek was past this, that he was over this kind of insecurity.

“Yes! It is hard to believe! Why would you want to risk your life for me!?”

“Because I wanted to protect you!” Stiles yells. He wants to say that it’s because he loves him, but he knows that that would freak Derek out. “I’m gonna go home. I can’t believe it’s so hard for you to believe that I care about you and I would do anything to keep you out of harm…” Stiles looks at Derek with a hurt look. “Think about that, Derek.”

***

**_May 3, 2017. 9:00 am_ **

“Well. I think this is all we need.” The Witch, Susan, says looking at them.

They’re in the Stilinski’s living room, all of them shinning with excitement as the Witch looks at the spell Lydia found a few days ago. Even Peter is here, along with a worried Cora, who just wants her brother back. She smiles and says:

“Ok. Derek’s family at my right side.” Cora and Peter walk and put themselves where she said. “Stiles’ family at my left side.” The Sheriff walks and puts himself at Susan’s left. She takes a deep breath and takes a knife. “ _Qui pereunt,_ ” she starts, cutting her palm and spilling her blood on a wood panel. “ _Qui exspectabat potest,_ ” she takes Cora’s and Peter’s hand and does a cut in each hand. “ _Et juxta condictum revertar,_ ” she does the same to the Sheriff’s hand and then signs them to let their blood on the wood panel. “ _Et effundetur sanguis eorum dignamur._ ” The blood starts moving itself and then all the little drops that fell separately mixed each other until they formed a big drop.

They stay silent for a little bit until something alerts all the wolves’ senses.

“There you go.” Susan says smiling.

In a quick move, Scott, Malia, Isaac, Cora and Peter run upstairs, and the Sheriff and Lydia follow them.

***

**_May 3, 2017. 9:55 am_ **

Scott is the one who opens the door. He can feel his eyes tearing at the sight. His best friend, his brother is there. Curled on his bed. Sleeping. God, he really missed watching his friend sleeping in so many different, strange positions.

“Stiles…” the Sheriff is the first one to talk, and Stiles startles in sleepy surprise.

“Oh, hey guys. Why those faces?” he says with voice rough because of the sleep. He stretches a little bit and then stops. “You… You can see me?” he says almost too hopeful.

“Oh, my god.” Lydia says with watery eyes.

“No, no, Lydia. Don’t cry, you’re gonna ruin your makeup.” Stiles says getting up from his bed.

“Oh, shut up, you idiot.” She says with a smile and runs to him. They hug for a second and then everyone in the room, except for Peter, hugs them with tears running down their faces.

“Dad…” Stiles says with his voice a little bit cracked and then he hugs him with all he has, just him. He feels like he should never let go. After a moment, he looks at them, at all the persons in his room and then he frowns in worry. “I need to see Derek.”

“Dude, you’ve been with him this last five months!” Scott says with a frown. “And you need to see him?”

“Scott, man, I love you, you’re my best friend and all that but shut up.”

Stiles looks at his clothes, he’s starting to feel tired, hungry and a little bit sleepy, even if he just woke up. He takes his keys from the table and checks his phone, it’s dead. _Damn it_ , he thinks.

“I’m so sorry, dad. I swear I’ll explain to you guys everything that happened on the other side but right now I need to see Derek.” Stiles gives them a pleading look and without waiting a response goes running through the open door.

“Well. Let’s go.” Lydia says.

“Where?” Scott asks.

“To Derek’s, of course. It’ll be easier. Stiles won’t be coming back any time soon and I need answers. So, we’re going.” Lydia gets out of the room, not giving them time to discuss it. From where they are, they all can hear the Jeep’s engine starting.

***

**_May 3, 2017. 10:45 am_ **

“Derek!” Stiles yells once he opens the door with the key he found under the carpet outside Derek’s loft. He enters running and finds a lost-looking Derek in the middle of the kitchen, holding a mug on his hand. “Derek!”

Derek looks up, face lighting, eyes soft and a big smile. Stiles runs towards him and then he hugs him and jumps, putting his legs around Derek’s waist. Derek laughs a bit and puts down the mug, hugging Stiles with a little bit more force than necessary.

“God. This is so overwhelming.” Derek says, breathing Stiles sent on his neck, Stiles rubs his cheek on Derek’s and then he kisses him with force. He’s not mad anymore. He just wants to hold Derek tight and never let him go. “They’re coming.” Derek says, and lets Stiles falls back on his feet.

Stiles and Derek get out of the kitchen as soon as the whole pack enters the loft. The first one who goes directly to Derek is Cora, who has big tears in her eyes and doesn’t want to let go of her brother.

“Oh, god, I was so worried, Derek! Uncle Peter came to look for me and he didn’t know much… I thought I’ve lost you too.”

“I’m sorry, Cor.” He says, breathing the scent of her hair. “Thank you, Peter.” Derek says with a wave of his eyebrows and Peter gives him a smile.

“That’s what family’s for.”

“Well? Are you going to explain? I’m still waiting!” Lydia says, putting herself comfortable on Derek’s sofa.

“Come in, Lydia. This is your house.” Stiles says rolling his eyes. The rest of the pack put themselves comfortable in the living room.

Cora lets Derek go and sits beside Isaac, straight posture, ignoring the looks Isaac is giving her.

“Ok… Where to begin…?” Stiles says, walking around the living room. “Der? Any ideas?” He asks, oblivious to the way Scott mouths ‘Der?’ at Isaac and Lydia, who just shrug, looking confused.

Derek hums and stops Stiles from waking. “You’re making me dizzy.” Stiles rolls his eyes and sits on the kitchen counter, Derek beside him.

“Ok. Um. Ok, right.” Stiles looks at them with a frustrated look. “When we woke up, it was midnight and none of you where there. We started looking for you and realized some weird things like, the breeze, people ignoring us…”

“We didn’t have shadows.” Derek continues.

“Exactly. And we didn’t get tired of walking from the preserve to my house.” Stiles says like the statement is something important. “When I tried to open the door, my hand went through the doorknob and that was the hole freaking out point.”

“Stiles had a panic attack because he thought we were dead.”

“Oh, shut up. We promised we were never going to talk about that again, Derek!” Stiles says complaining, but his whole face’s smirking.

“I never promised such thing.”

“Traitor.” Stiles pouts and then continues. “We heard the whole conversation you guys and my father had.” Stiles points Lydia and Scott and they smile at him. “We actually heard a lot of your conversations. Which leads me to: Lyds, don’t throw your investigation, I need to check some things out.”

“Sure. As long as you let me help you.”

“Of course. We’re a team.” Stiles says with a smile. “Also, a few things, guys. Dad, you’re going to start your veggie diet again. Don’t look at me like that, I saw and count how many burgers you ate while I was in the other side.” Stiles looks at his dad with worried face. “Think about your arteries, dad! They’re full of grease!”

“I knew this would happen…” John murmurs and all of them laugh.

“Ok. Next. Isaac. How is that thing of you calling me mom?” All of them laugh a little bit harder while Isaac blushes a bit too red.

“You’re just taking care of us all the time! You’re like Melissa! You’re the pack mom!” He says a bit too flushed.

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m not mad or anything. You can keep calling me that if you want.” Stiles offers with a soft smile.

“I have a question.” Scott says. “Why Derek’s scent was off?” Stiles sees Derek tenses at the words.

“That is because, while we were there, I was human.” Derek answers a bit too low.

“… What?” Malia asks for the first time.

“It seems like, the other dimension didn’t have any supernatural things going on, so we both were human.” Stiles says carefully, taking Derek’s hand on his.

They all stay in silence while they process the information they just heard when Isaac speaks again.

“Ok. I’ve been meaning to ask since we got here. You guys, are you dating or something?” everyone shifts at the question and Stiles and Derek look at each other with soft smiles.

“Yeah, we are.” Derek answers for the both of them.

 “Finally!” the word is said as a collective growl. Even the Sheriff says it.

“… Ok…” Stiles says with a laugh. “There’s something else, though.” Stiles says and everyone is quiet again. “Derek and I’ve been thinking about the Witch.”

“What about her?” Cora asks with a frown.

“We just want to know something about the spell. We have a theory and all.”

“But why would you want to look for her? She’s dead, Stiles, she died after she did the spell.” Scott says confused.

“I know that, Scott.” Stiles says frustrated. “Jesus. I mean, I’m not complaining because you got us out of the other dimension but, you took too long.” Stiles says and Lydia looks uncomfortable. “No, Lyds. I mean, thank you. It’s just that, you guys look for everything and not even once contemplated other options, and Derek and I thought something about the Witch and just why she would do something like that.”

“What else do you wanna find? She was just crazy, Stiles.” Scott says exasperated.

“Exactly!” Stiles says rubbing his hand on his face. “Guys, answer me this. What am I?”

“Human.” The four werewolves, the werecoyote and the banshee answer.

“Yes. I know that. But besides that? What am I?” Nobody answers this time.

“The Sheriff’s son.” Derek says with a sigh.

“Exactly.” Stiles says looking at them with a knowing look, all of them look confused. “And as the Sheriff’s son, I have access to a lot of records…” Stiles says with a knowing tone.

“Oh my god.” Lydia says first.

“Thank you.” Stiles continues, gesturing his hands at her.

“What, what do you mean?” Scott looks utterly confused.

“He means,” The Sheriff starts. “that he’s going to look at missing person’s police records and find something about the Witch.”

“Thanks, dad. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” Stiles says with a smile.

“But, why?” Malia asks and Peter, Derek and Stiles sigh exasperated. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’m not the genius here.”

“Because, I know we always face things that doesn’t have tights to anyone. I mean, the Darach was supposed to be dead, the Alpha pack only had each other, Theo’s pack died, one by one; not even once we faced someone who might had a person that worries about them. We thought that, the Witch probably was in a nurse home and probably went missing and that there are people out there still looking for her. I want to know why she was so obsessed with the spell she used and why she was like that.”

***

**_May 3, 2017. 3:02 pm_ **

“Did you find something?” Lydia asks from her spot on the couch.

“Not yet. I’m looking for missing people around the other states. There’s nothing in California.”

“Well, I have a few matches but they don’t have pictures. And some of these people went missing this year, so…” Lydia looks up and stares at him with an apprehensive look.

“Yeah, same here. I think we should expand our missing date until October, perhaps she was missing for a long time.” Stiles starts taping something and Lydia does the same. “Look in New York and I’ll look in Texas.”

“Ok.” They both frown at the matches.

“I have nothing. Like, literally nothing. Nobody in Texas went missing on October.” Stiles looks at Lydia with a hopeful look. “You found something?”

“I have three matches. A little girl, 12 years old. Was found in a neighbor’s house.” Lydia and Stiles shudder at that. "A man in his forties, was found dead by a nearby river. And a woman in his fifties. Never found. She’s missing since October 5.” Lydia says with her eyebrows raised.

“You have a picture?” Stiles stands up and walks behind the couch so he can look at the laptop.

“Yeah. It’s still loading, tho. In here says that she was in a nurse home and that one moment she was in her room and the next moment she was gone. There’s a contact number here, it’s her daughter’s.” Lydia finishes reading and she writes down the number, while she’s at it, the photo loads completely.

“Oh my god.” Stiles says. “Lyds, look.”

“It’s her.”

***

**_May 4, 2017. 11:29 am_ **

They’re all reunited in Derek’s loft discussing what to do with the information they have. The Witch’s name was Caroline Stewart. She was fifty-two, had three daughters and two sisters. Her husband was nowhere to be seen and was put in a nurse home when she was forty-seven.

“We need to call her family.” Isaac says.

“But… What if they’re just as crazy as she was?” Malia asks, hugging Lydia closer.

“Peter is crazy and neither Derek, Cora or you, Malia, are.” Scott says rolling his eyes. “I agree with Isaac. We should call them… Guys, if any of you were missing, we would want to know what happened to you. This kind of things are very important to a family.” The _we’re a family_ part is left unspoken.

“Scott’s right.” Stiles says. “She was important to someone. So important she was put into the missing person’s records. We need to call her family.”

“Ok. Fine. But you talk to them.”

“I was planning to.”

Stiles takes his phone and writes the number, murmurs something about long distance calls and then puts the cellphone on his ear. They’re all waiting, holding their breaths, until someone picks the phone.

“Hello?” a woman’s voice answers.

“Hi. My name is Stiles Stilinski. I’m talking with Jessica Stewart?”

“Yes.” She answers with a suspicious tone. “What is it?”

“Um. I’m calling because I have information on your mother, Caroline Stewart?” Stiles feels his heart on his throat, beating faster every second that passes that the girl, Jessica, doesn’t answer. Derek puts his hand on his shoulder.

“Oh my god! Is she alright? Is she with you?” she says hurriedly after processing what Stiles just said.

“Um…” Stiles says and opens his mouth to try and say something else, but the words are stuck in his throat. The pack circle him and start cuddling him.

“No…” she says with a broken voice. “She… she died?” they can hear the tears in her voice.

“Yeah… There… There was a fight and the last spell and…” Stiles doesn’t know what he’s saying. For all he knows, the girl might not even know her mother was a witch.

“Are you an emissary or something?” she asks, voice carefully calculated.

“Or something…” Stiles says and they both stay quiet for a minute. “Look. I know this must be very unfair for you, having to listen this things by phone. There’s a lot we need to explain to you, and I really want to ask you a few questions. Is it ok if we meet somewhere?”

“Uh… Yeah, I think so. Where… Where was she?” she asks, voice broken again.

“Beacon Hills.” Stiles answers. _What a hellhole Beacon Hills is_ , he thinks.

“That’s… that’s really far away.” She answers.

“Don’t worry about that. We… We can go there or we can pay your plane ticket in case you want to come here.” Stiles says and the pack look at him disbelievingly.

“No, it’s ok. I can go there. Is Saturday ok? I need to explain to my family and I’m working this week.” She says, and there’s a rustling sound indicating she stood up.

“Yeah. It’s ok. This is my number, by the way.”

“Ok…” Stiles knows she’s about to hung up, he just needs to say something before she does it.

“Jessica… I just need you to know something, ok? We didn’t kill her.” Stiles says and they all hear the sigh of relieve she lets out.

“Thanks… See you on Saturday.” And with that, the call ends.

***

**_May 5, 2017. 11:10 pm_ **

**Jessica: My plane is a nonstop. It’s supposed to be landing at 12:15.**

**Stiles: Good. That way we can take you lunch and talk. We’ll be in the airport waiting for you. I’m gonna go with two more guys, Derek and Scott.**

**Stiles: I’m gonna sleep now. See you tomorrow!**

**Jessica: See you tomorrow!**

***

**_May 6, 2017. 12:20 pm_ **

When Jessica takes her baggage, and walks to the exit, she sees a lot of people hugging their loved ones. In particular, there are three guys, three hot guys, with a ‘Jessica Stewart’ sign and she just wonders which one of them is Stiles. She walks straight to them, smile a little bit and says:

“Stiles?” the guy in the middle, with the funny nose, lights up immediately.

“Jessica?” she nods. “Awesome!” he says and quickly takes her baggage. “This is Derek” he points the guy with the frowny eyebrows, who nods. “And this is Scott.” The other guy, with the puppy face, waves his hand.

“So, werewolves, huh?” she asks immediately.

“Yeah. I was hoping you didn’t notice so soon.” Stiles answers while he starts walking. “Scott’s the Alpha.” He says.

“Well, nice to meet you, Alpha Scott.” She says with a soft smile.

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Where are we going anyway?” she asks once they’ve reached a blue Jeep.

“Well. The pack is reunited on a diner, so we’re going there.” Derek answers while he enters the passenger seat and she and Scott sit on the back. She looks at them strangely, then shrugs. “Stiles. We need to leave her baggage on the loft and then go to the diner.”

“I know that, Der. Text Lydia and tell her we’ll be there in forty minutes.” Stiles handles his phone to Derek and he takes it easily.

“She says that she expects us to be in half an hour because Isaac is starting to behave like a toddler.” Derek answers, smirk on his lips.

“Ugh. Tell her to buy him curly fries or something. Your loft is not that near.”

“Our loft.” Derek corrects looking at the phone and Stiles smiles a little bit.

“Yeah… our loft.” He says fondly and Jessica suddenly understands why Derek is sitting there.

“Ugh. Could you be a little bit more domestic and corny? I think there are some places in this Jeep that aren’t full of it yet.” Scott says with an annoyed voice.

“Oh shut up, buddy. You don’t get to tell me anything. Not if you want me to remind your high school days.” Stiles smirks and looks at him through the rear-view mirror.

Scott huffs a little and Jessica chuckles. _This might be good_ , she thinks.

***

 ** _May 6, 2017. 1:05 pm_**.

“We’re here!” Stiles says once they enter the diner. There’s only a large group on the back of the place and suddenly Jessica feels a little bit intimidated.

“What took you so long!?” a blond guy with curly hair asks, looking extremely exasperated, even though he has a few curly fries on his mouth. _He must be Isaac_ , Jessica thinks.

“Hey. The loft is not exactly near the airport, or here, in case you didn’t noticed.” Stiles says taking a seat. The curly hair guy rolls his eyes. “Guys, this is Jessica, Jessica…” Stiles looks at her with a smile. “This is the pack.”

“I’m Isaac” the curly guy, Isaac, says. _I knew it._ Jessica smiles at him.

“That’s Lydia.” A girl with red hear nods. “Her girlfriend, Malia.” The girl beside her smiles in return. “Liam.” A guy with puppy eyes waves his hand. “His girlfriend, Hayden.” A girl with black hair waves too. “That’s Cora and Peter, Derek’s sister and uncle.” A girl Stiles’ age salutes with a quick nod and the man stands up and takes her hand.

“You have a beautiful skin.” He says with a creepy voice and then a collective groan and a hand makes him sit.

“Um… Thanks?” she answers frowning.

“Don’t mind Peter. He’s a creep.” Stiles says. “You know Scott and Derek and me. That’s my dad, he’s the Sheriff.” A man in uniform nods politely and smile.

“Nice to meet you.” She says.

“The only one that’s not here is Jackson, but he’s off somewhere… Lyds?” he asks.

“Currently in Galapagos.” She answers with a soft smile.

“He’s there.” Stiles moves his hand in a dismissive wave and then makes space for her to join them, then they happily ask for lunch.

While they wait, she dares to ask what she has been thinking these past few days.

“Um, Stiles, you said you wanted to ask me and explain some things?” the table goes quiet and suddenly all of them are looking at them. Stiles scratch his neck.

“Uh, yeah. You see. Your mom came to our territory in December. We were patrolling the preserve when the wolves caught her scent and when we reached her she started throwing off curses. One of the curses caught Derek and me and well, we…” Stiles looks at Derek and Jessica understands.

“She sent you guys to another dimension?” she asks.

“Yeah… you know the spell?” Lydia asks.

“It’s complicated.” She answers and then looks at them. “A few years back, my mother and my aunt had a fight because my mom found out that my father was cheating on her with my aunt. In the middle of the fight, my aunt casted this curse and my mom was sent to the other dimension, in which she was human and couldn’t come back on her own. So she stayed there, watching how my aunt took my dad away from us… among other things, until I found the spell. But when she came back, her head was messed up because she was so used to her magic that losing it, getting it back and watching most of us moving on… it made her crazy. So we put her in a nurse home and well, you know the rest.”

“She became obsessed with the spell?” the Sheriff asks.”

“Yeah. She tried to send a lot of people there, and then they kept her sedated, but somehow they forgot to give her the medications and she escaped.” Jessica looks destroyed. Stiles puts a hand on her shoulder and gives her an encouraging squish.

“Well. We were there for like, five months until Lydia found the spell. But we had each other so it wasn’t that bad. Derek indeed was human. And from what I heard about what happened that day, she used her last trail of magic to burn her body and grimoire. I’m sorry.” Stiles says.

“It’s ok. It sounds like her to do that” Jessica sighs. “She was always saying she wanted her body to be cremated and then wanted us to take her ashes and throw them into the ocean or something. She was like that.”

***

**_January 26, 2018. 1:10 pm_ **

It’s a beautiful Friday in the afternoon. The sun is very hot, even if they’re still in winter, but, who cares? Stiles certainly doesn’t because he’s jumping and gleaming and yelling at everyone.

“I graduated! Finally!” he says at his father’s face, and at Scott’s face and at Derek’s face. And at every-person-who-happens-to-be-passing-by’s face.

“Come on, Stiles. Time to go home.” His father says with a smile, because even if Stiles is acting like a little child, he can’t quite stop smiling proudly at his son’s achievement.

“I know. Just let me say goodbye to my friends.” And with that, Stiles goes off to a very big group of people.

Derek, Scott and the Sheriff stay there, looking at the happy twenty-two-year-old man who hugs with a big smile and some tears in his eyes and:

“Shut up, you’re crying.” They hear him say and chuckle a bit.

“He looks so happy.” Scott says with a smile.

“He _is_ happy.” Derek murmurs while he looks on the pockets of his jeans a little box and starts walking towards Stiles.

“Is that what I think it is?” the Sheriff asks Scott, who just holds a breath while they see Stiles confused face and then a very big, very bright smile.

“Yeah. He just asked him to move with him.” Scott answers.

The Sheriff nods and then smiles when Stiles comes running, hand in Derek’s, and waving the small key in front of him and telling him in a lot of words just how corny Derek is for waiting until he graduated to give him the key of his loft, _like I wasn’t living there, right, dad?_ Derek just looks embarrassed and somehow, that’s all kinds of worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> * Those who are lost, who may be waiting, shall be back when the blood that links them is spilled.
> 
> Also, if you didn't notice, I love 'Never gonna give you up' and my corny dream is to kiss someone while singing that song. Feel free to recommend songs to do that with someone <3


End file.
